PM misleading Indians on vote-buying: Julian Assange

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh deliberately misled Indians by asserting that no government members were involved in the 2008 vote-buying scandal, said WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Monday.

The chief of the whistleblowing website, that leaked secret U.S. diplomatic cables which accused members of Singh?s Congress party of paying off lawmakers ahead of the crucial confidence vote, said the disclosure was authentic.

Defying resignation calls from the opposition, Singh had questioned the veracity of the cables by calling them “unverified and unverifiable? last week.

The trust vote, on July 22, 2008, had helped his government pass the historic Indo-US civil nuclear deal that paved the way for foreign countries to enter the India?s USD 150 billion civilian nuclear energy market, ending its nuclear isolation following the atomic test in 1974.

The deal faced stiff opposition in the country?s parliament over the issue of limiting liability of foreign suppliers that enter the industry and its slow progress frustrated U.S. analysts.

In a statement to the Rajya Sabha on Friday, Singh said, ?No one from the Congress Party or the government indulged in any unlawful act during the trust vote…The government rejects the allegation as absolutely false.?

The vote-buying row, is the latest in the series of corruption allegations battering Singh?s Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government at the Centre which include the massive telecoms spectrum scam, the Commonwealth Games irregularities and the Adarsh Housing scandal.

Speaking to NDTV Assange said, ?The comments that I’ve been hearing from the Prime Minister Singh, these to me seem like a deliberate attempt to mislead the public by suggesting that governments around the world do not accept the material and it is not verified.?

He added that suggesting that the cables were just opinions by U.S. diplomats was also incorrect.

The set of communiqu?ss, or cable, between U.S. diplomatic officials — accessed by The Hindu daily — showed that they were assured by Nachiketa Kapur, an aide of Congress leader Satish Sharma, that the party had gathered about Rs 50-60 crores to buy out votes to allow the deal.

The cable also showed that the U.S., which was breathing down the government?s neck to have the bill approved the Parliament, came uncannily close to predicting the final outcome of the confidence vote.